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A new partnership between Maryville University in St. Louis and Westminster College in Fulton, MO, has been formed to offer a Masters of Business Administration degree to employees of Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Energy Center.

Classes for the new program enable employees at the energy center in Callaway County to earn an MBA designed with flexibility and convenience to meet their needs as working professionals.

The courses will be offered in a blended format of classroom time at the energy center, complemented with online course work to help employee-students balance their professional and personal lives while studying for their MBA degree, said Benjamin Ola. Akande, PhD, president of Westminster College.

“We’re very excited about this new partnership, which offers a great opportunity to the employees at Ameren Missouri,” he said. “Any time two excellent institutions like Maryville and Westminster can come together to provide business solutions to our corporate partner and its employees, it is a win-win all around.”

The courses will be taught by instructors from Maryville and Westminster College. The curriculum includes MBA-level management, accounting, ethics, marketing, leadership, and other business courses offered through Maryville’s John E. Simon School of Business.

“Like Westminster, Maryville is committed to serving the needs of its business partners. It was an easy decision to create a joint MBA program when Dr. Akande approached us with the opportunity,” said Mark Lombardi, PhD, president of Maryville University. “Higher education is rapidly changing, so we must work collaboratively and innovatively to ensure we’re able to meet the needs of students where they are.”

This new program will also make it more efficient for Ameren Missouri’s Callaway employees to earn their MBA degree.

“It will make a big difference and will be far more convenient for our Callaway co-workers to continue their learning journey and earn an MBA degree without having to drive to St. Louis, Columbia or elsewhere to attend class,” said Fadi Diya, Ameren Missouri senior vice president and chief nuclear officer (CNO). “We fully embrace this partnership, and encourage our Callaway co-workers to capitalize on this great learning opportunity.”

Founded in 1851, Westminster College is located in Fulton, Mo., about 14 miles from Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Energy Center. It is highly diverse, and ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in America by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, The Princeton Review, Washington Monthly, and others. Westminster is an outcomes-based college that provides a challenging academic environment where students are educated to lead and inspired to achieve.

Founded in 1872, Maryville University is a comprehensive and nationally-ranked private institution with an enrollment of more than 6,800 students. Maryville offers over 90 degrees at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels to students from 50 states and 54 countries.

In addition to their excellent undergraduate and graduate curricula and their campus life opportunities, both Westminster College and Maryville University focus on student outcomes. As a result, approximately 95 percent of their graduates find jobs in their field of interest within six months of graduation.